Structures of terminals and component-to-be-loaded

ABSTRACT

To improve contact stability with respect to structures of terminals of a main body side apparatus and a component-to-be-loaded each having a terminal aiming for electric contact. 
     To this end, there is provided terminal structures aiming for an electric connection when a battery pack  100  (component-to-be-loaded) is loaded on a video camera  1  (main body side apparatus), wherein the video camera (main body side apparatus) has a main body side terminal  30 , and the battery pack has a battery side terminal  120  (component-to-be-loaded terminal) for joining with said main body side terminal; and terminal pieces  31, 31, 31  of said main body side terminal are insert-molded on an upper frame body  13  (mold member) with two guide pieces  32,32  being integrally provided on the upper frame body to sandwich said terminal piece; and a terminal member  122, 122  are insert-molded on a terminal case  121  (mold member) with guide grooves  123, 123  being formed on the terminal case (mold member) to correspond to said guide pieces; and by engaging said guide pieces with the guide grooves formed in the battery pack (component-to-be-loaded), positioning of the main body side terminal and the battery side terminal (component-to-be-loaded side terminal) is achieved.

This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 11/087,919, filed Mar.22, 2005, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,086,894 which is a continuation ofapplication Ser. No. 10/381,262, filed Oct. 9, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No.7,001,209 which is based on International Application PCT/JP02/07498filed Jul. 24, 2002, pursuant to 35 USC 371, and is entitled to thepriority filing date of Japanese applications 2001-224013 and2001-224014, both filed in Japan on Jul. 25, 2001, the entirety of whichis incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to structures of a main body sideapparatus and a component-to-be-loaded that aim for electric contact,and technology to improve the contact stability thereof

BACKGROUND ART

As a component-to-be-loaded that aims for electric contact with a mainbody apparatus, there is provided a battery pack that is loaded on avideo camera.

Such a battery pack can be loaded on a video light, a battery chargerand the like other than the video camera, and is in need of aiming forelectric contact with these appliances all of which are each providedwith a terminal of the same form.

Additionally, there are plural-types of batteries based on differencesin capacity, and further, as a component-to-be-loaded having a terminalof the same form that is similar to the battery pack, there are, forexample, a dry cell pack, a DC plate and the like. By the way, the DCplate is a component-to-be-loaded that has an outer form like thebattery pack to be loaded on a battery loading portion and a cord forconnecting to a battery charger and supplies DC electric power to a mainbody apparatus via the above-mentioned component-to-be-loaded.

Then, in order to aim for the electric contact between the main bodyside apparatus and the component-to-be-loaded, there are provided, forexample, structures of terminals described in Japanese laid-open patentapplication No. 10-312782 by the same applicant as that of the presentinvention.

In explaining this simply, a tubular type-like sleeve terminal embeddedin a battery case or a circular cylinder-like pin terminal that engageswith the above-mentioned sleeve terminal is employed, respectively.

Then these sleeve terminal and pin terminal are molded by being insertedin a battery case or a molded portion of a battery loading portion.

Since such a terminal, specifically, a sleeve terminal of a battery sideterminal is embedded in the battery case, the sleeve terminal is notexposed, and as a result, it is possible to prevent a trouble in which akey-holder, necklace, chain or the like is brought into contact betweensleeve terminals to cause a short circuit.

Such a battery pack is loaded on a main body side apparatus by way ofconvex and concave engaging portions formed in a battery case and abattery loading portion of the main body side apparatus. Therefore,positioning the two are roughly performed by these convex and concaveengaging portions, though positioning of the terminals are performed byincreasing positional accuracy and dimensional accuracy of both theterminals themselves, and engagement of these terminals.

Then, to load a battery pack is performed by sliding the above-mentionedsleeve terminal or pin terminal in the axial direction, and at thistime, the main body side pin terminal is relatively inserted in thebattery side sleeve terminal to establish an electric connection betweenthe terminals.

However, as mentioned above, in the conventional structures ofterminals, since the sleeve terminal and pin terminal had been embeddedin their respective portions by insert molding, positional accuracy cannot necessarily be said to have been high, so that there has been aproblem in which both the terminals lack in contact stability as thepositioning of these terminals depends on the engagement of theseterminals.

Namely, although the positional accuracy of one terminal with respect toa body (battery case, battery loading portion) can be increased to someextent, since there are at least two terminals (of late, three terminalsin many cases) in the battery pack, positional accuracy between pluralterminals tends to deteriorate.

In addition, in the conventional structures of terminals, it has beennecessary for the battery pack to be loaded on the main body side bybeing slid in one direction with respect to the main body side apparatusuntil engagement between the sleeve terminal and the pin terminal iscompleted. To that extent, there have been difficult problems to aim atminiaturizing the main body side apparatus and/or the component-to-beloaded.

That is to say, the battery loading portion for the battery pack islonger than the battery pack in the longitudinal direction, so thelength thereof needs to be at least equivalent to or longer than theamount of sliding necessary for the above-mentioned sleeve terminal andpin terminal to be engaged with each other. To this end, the batteryloading portion of the main body side apparatus had to be provided withan additional space taking into consideration the amounts of sliding ofboth the terminals, which hampered the miniaturization of the main bodyside apparatus.

Further, since the above-mentioned main body side terminal (pinterminal) is exposed in the battery loading portion, the possibility ishigh that it gets deformed by some kind of collisions. On suchoccasions, there is a problem in which contact stability at the time ofthe both terminals being connected further deteriorates.

Particularly, when the battery pack is loaded on the battery loadingportion in such a way that the orientation thereof is wrong or thebattery pack is forcedly loaded on the battery loading portion by beingtilted slantingly, unreasonable force (external force) is applied to theabove-mentioned main body side terminal (pin terminal), with a resultthat there have been many troubles in which the above-mentioned mainbody side terminal are deformed.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

Then, an object of the present invention is to lessen the amount ofmovement necessary for loading a component-to-be-loaded on a main bodyside apparatus and to aim at miniaturizing the main body side apparatusand the component-to-be-loaded and improving contact stability of thestructures of the terminals to achieve electric contact between the mainbody side apparatus and the component-to-be-loaded.

The present invention relates to the structures of terminals, and aimsfor an electric connection between a main body side apparatus and acomponent-to-be-loaded at the time of the latter being loaded on theformer, the main body side apparatus having a main body side terminaland the component-to-be-loaded having a component-to-be-loaded sideterminal for joining with the above-mentioned main body side terminal,wherein a terminal piece of the above-mentioned main body side terminalis insert-molded on a mold member with at least one guide piece beingintegrally provided on the mold member, and a terminal member of theabove-mentioned component-to-be-loaded side being insert-molded on amold member, and a guide groove is formed on the mold member tocorrespond to the above-mentioned guide piece. By engaging theabove-mentioned guide piece with the guide groove formed on thecomponent-to-be-loaded, positioning of the main side terminal and thecomponent-to-be-loaded terminal is achieved.

In addition, the present invention relates to a component-to-be-loadedhaving a component-to-be-loaded side terminal for aiming for an electricconnection with a main body side terminal of a main body side apparatuswhen the component-to-be-loaded is loaded on the main body sideapparatus, wherein a terminal member of the above-mentionedcomponent-to-be-loaded side terminal is insert-molded with a guidegroove being formed on a mold member to correspond to a guide pieceprovided on the above-mentioned main body side apparatus. By engagingthe guide groove with the guide piece of the above-mentioned main bodyside apparatus, positioning of the above-mentioned main side terminaland the component-to-be-loaded terminal is achieved.

In such present invention, since positioning of a main body sideterminal and a component-to-be-loaded side terminal is achieved byengaging a terminal piece and/or terminal member that is insert-moldedon a mold member with a guide piece and a guide groove formed on themold member, by enhancing the accuracy of molding between the terminalpiece and the guide groove of both the terminals, the positionalaccuracy of the terminal piece and the terminal member of both theterminals can be improved, so that when both the terminals are joinedwith each other the joining state between the terminal piece and theterminal member can be stably maintained.

In addition, the structures of terminals of the present invention areones in which a main body side terminal of a main body side apparatushas flat plate-like contact portions, and a component-to-be-loaded sideterminal of a component-to-be-loaded has two contact pieces that areopposed to each other. Further, the above-mentioned main body sideterminal and the component-to-be-loaded side terminal are capable ofbeing combined with each other in two directions as to the planedirection of the above-mentioned contact portions, so that theabove-mentioned two contact pieces sandwich the above-mentioned contactportion at the time of the main body side terminal and thecomponent-to-be-loaded side terminal being joined with each other.

Furthermore, the component-to-be-loaded of the present invention has twocontact pieces that are opposed to each other, and further, theabove-mentioned main body side terminal and the component-to-be-loadedside terminal are capable of being combined with each other in twodirections as to the plane direction of the above-mentioned contactportions, so that the above-mentioned two contact pieces sandwich theabove-mentioned contact portions at the time of the main body sideterminal and the component-to-be-loaded being joined with each other.

In such present invention, since the flat plate-like contact portionsare sandwiched by two contact pieces of the component-to-be-loaded sideterminal, and the direction in which the component-to-be-loaded sideterminal is inserted into and pulled out from the main body sideapparatus is made at least two directions, the direction in which thecomponent-to-be-loaded is loaded on the main body side apparatus can bemade different from the direction in which the terminals are joined witheach other. As the result, regardless of the direction in which theterminals are joined with each other, the degree of freedom of designingwith respect to the loading of the component-to-be-loaded on the mainbody side apparatus can be increased, and miniaturization of the mainbody side apparatus and/or component-to-be-loaded can be achieved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the state immediately before abattery pack is loaded on a video camera according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a front view of a battery loading portion seen from the rightdirection;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the battery loadingportion taken along the line III-III in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the battery pack that is exploded;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the battery pack showing the wholethereof;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the battery pack showing the wholethereof seen from the direction different from that of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of the battery pack seen from the upperdirection after being exploded;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of the battery pack seen from the upperdirection;

FIG. 9 is an enlarged view in which the portion of a battery sideterminal is exploded, and respective portions are shifted in the upperand lower directions and are seen from the right direction;

FIG. 10 is an enlarged perspective view of the battery loading portion,wherein (a) shows the state of a protection plate of the main body sideterminal being rotated while (b) shows the state of the protection plateof the main body side terminal being not rotated;

FIG. 11 is an enlarged perspective view of a lock mechanism that is inthe state of being disassembled from the battery loading portion;

FIG. 12 is an enlarged perspective view of the lock mechanism afterbeing disassembled;

FIG. 13 is an enlarged diagram in which a portion of the appearance thatthe battery pack is loaded on or disengaged from the battery loadingportion as in the cases of FIGS. 14 to 16 is cut off and which is seenfrom the front direction, though this figure shows an initial loadingstage;

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing the battery pack in the halfway stage ofbeing loaded;

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing the battery pack in the finished stage ofbeing loaded;

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing the appearance of the battery pack beingdisengaged and a part of the battery pack being in the state of beingfloated by a jump-out-prevention lever;

FIG. 17 is an enlarged view of the battery side terminal seen from theupper direction;

FIG. 18 is an enlarged view of the battery side terminal seen from theleft direction;

FIG. 19 is an enlarged view of the battery side terminal seen from theback direction;

FIG. 20 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the battery side terminaltaken along the line XX-XX in FIG. 18;

FIG. 21 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the battery side terminaltaken along the line XXI-XXI in FIG. 19;

FIG. 22 is an enlarged view of a main body side terminal seen from theleft direction;

FIG. 23 is an enlarged view of the main body side terminal seen from thelower direction;

FIG. 24 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the main body sideterminal along the line XXIV-XXIV in FIG. 22;

FIG. 25 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the main body sideterminal along the line XXV-XXV in FIG. 22;

FIG. 26 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a battery side terminaland the main body side terminal showing how the two join with eachother, and this figure shows an initial joining stage in which a guidepiece is in the state of being about to enter into a guide groove;

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing the state in which a contact portion isabout to contact with a contact piece in the halfway stage of joining;

FIG. 28 is a diagram showing the finished state of joining;

FIG. 29 is an enlarged cross-sectional diagram taken along the lineXXIX-XXIX in FIG. 28;

FIG. 30 is an enlarged cross-sectional diagram taken along the lineXXX-XXX in FIG. 28;

FIG. 31, together with FIGS. 32, 33, shows the results of examiningmaterials of a terminal piece and a terminal member as well as platingthereof, and this figure is a diagram showing result tables in relationto contact resistance;

FIG. 32 is a diagram showing result tables in relation to engagementforce;

FIG. 33 is a diagram showing result tables in relation to disengagementforce;

FIG. 34 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the contact portion inthe state of being held between the contact pieces in the standardposition;

FIG. 35 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the contact portion inthe state of being held between the contact pieces in the positionshifted in one direction;

FIG. 36 is a graph showing the relationship between the amount ofdisplacement of the contact piece and the contact pressure;

FIG. 37, together with FIGS. 38 to 40, is a diagram for explainingwhether or not loading is permitted based on the combination of pluralkinds of discriminating tabs and the blocking portions, and this figureshows the relations between a blocking portion type I and respectivediscriminating tabs;

FIG. 38 is a diagram showing the relations between a blocking potiontype II and the respective discriminating tabs;

FIG. 39 is a diagram showing the relations between a blocking portiontype III and the respective discriminating tabs; and

FIG. 40 is a diagram showing the relations between a blocking portiontype IV and the respective discriminating tabs.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail accordingto embodiments illustrated in the attached drawings.

In addition, the embodiments shown in the drawings are such that thepresent invention is applied to the structure of how the battery pack isloaded in a video camera, wherein ┌video camera┘ corresponds to ┌mainbody side apparatus┘ described in the scope of claim, and ┌battery pack┘corresponds to ┌component-to-be-loaded┘ described in the scope of claim,respectively. In addition, ┌video light┘, ┌battery charger┘ to bementioned later on correspond to ┌main body side apparatus┘, and ┌drycell pack┘ corresponds to ┌component-to-be-loaded┘ described in thescope of claim, respectively.

Further, a video camera to be explained in the following is a camera ofthe type which has a lens body tube positioned at its upper portion ofthe camera main body when it is in an ordinary state for use with abattery pack removably loaded on the right side surface. To this end,also in the following, an explanation will be given with this directionas a standard, which means that the U direction, the D direction, the Ldirection, the R direction, the F direction, the B direction which areeach indicated by an arrow mark in each of the drawings respectivelymean the upper direction, the lower direction, the left direction, theright direction, the front direction and the back direction.Furthermore, the orientation (directionality) of the battery pack is notoriginally unique, though in order to explain the case where the batterypack is to be loaded on the above-mentioned video camera, an explanationwill be given of the battery pack with the same orientation(directionality).

A video camera 1 comprises a rectangular solid-like camera main body 2,a lens body tube 3 provided on the upper portion of the camera main body2, a display panel provided on the left surface of the camera main body2 (not shown in the figures) and the like.

In addition, on the right surface of the camera main body 2 is provideda battery loading portion 10 that is surrounded by four frame bodies (afront frame body 11, a back frame body 12, an upper frame-body 13, alower frame body 14) (refer to FIGS. 1 and 2).

The battery loading portion 10 forms a rectangle when seen from thefront, and is formed to be slightly larger than the front projectionform of a battery pack 100. Further, small ribs 16, 16, . . . extendingin the right and left directions are each provided at positionsrespectively shifted to the upper end and lower end of an inner surface(back surface) 11 a of the front frame body 11 and an inner surface(front surface) 12 a of the back frame body 12, though the amount ofprojections of the small ribs 16 is small and the amount of projectionsis formed to be slightly larger as the ribs near toward the bottomsurface 15 of the battery loading portion 10, that is, formed to taperoff. The interval between the small ribs 16, 16 opposing to each otherat the bottom surface 15 is formed to be approximately equal to orslightly smaller than the front and back, and width, dimensions of thebattery pack (refer to FIG. 3).

On the inner surface 13 a side of the front portion of the upper framebody 13 constituting the battery loading portion 10, a terminal 30(hereinafter referred to as ┌main body side terminal┘) is provided forconnecting to a terminal (hereinafter referred to as ┌pack sideterminal┘) 120 of the above-mentioned battery pack 100, and a lockmechanism 40 for holing the battery pack 100 in the battery loadingportion 10 is provided at the center of the lower frame body 14 (referto FIG. 1).

For a start, the battery pack 100 to be used by the video camera 1 willbe explained.

The battery pack 100 includes a rectangular solid-like battery case 101,battery cells 102, 102 to be housed in the battery case 101, a substrate104 with an IC chip 103 mounted thereon for computing and storing aresidual quantity of the battery pack and the like, and a battery sideterminal 120 to be attached to the substrate 104 and for connecting tothe main body side terminal 30 (refer to FIG. 4).

Here, the battery pack 100 has plural kinds of battery packs mainlybecause capacities thereof are different, and those shown in FIG. 1,FIGS. 3 through 9, FIGS. 13 through 16 belong to the battery pack of thestandard type that is the smallest (thin in thickness) in outward formamong the plural kinds of the battery packs 100.

Then, the battery case 101 is comprised of a front surface case 105 anda back surface case 106 (refer to FIG. 4), and the back surface cases106 are the same in size in plural numbers of the types of the batterypacks 100, though the front surface cases 105 are different in size(thickness) in the battery packs 100 (refer to FIG. 37 though FIG. 40).

On the front portion of the upper surface of the back surface case 106,a concave 107 that is a notch lower than the other portion is formed,and a rectangular cutaway 108 that opens to the front surface side(right direction) and the back surface side (left direction) is formedat the concave 107, with the above-mentioned battery side terminal beingslid from the front surface side (right direction) to be attached to therectangular cutaway 108. The upper surface of the battery side terminal120 that is attached to the rectangular cutaway 108 is the same inheight as the other portion except the concave 107 (refer to FIG. 9).

At the front and back side edges of the rectangular cutaway 108 of theback surface case 106, ribs (hereinafter referred to as ┌terminalpositioning rib┘) 109, 109 projected upward while extending in the rightand left directions are respectively formed, and the left ends of theterminal positioning ribs 109, 109 that don't extend to as far as a backsurface 106 a of the back surface case 106 are formed at positionsshifted slightly to the right direction from the back surface case 106 awith the upper surface of these two terminal positioning ribs 109, 109being the same in height as the other portion except the upper surfaceof the battery side terminal and the concave 107 of the back surfacecase 106 (refer to FIG. 9).

Further, the interval between the two terminal positioning ribs 109, 109is formed to be approximately equal to the dimension in the front andback direction of the above-mentioned battery side terminal 120, and thetwo terminal positioning ribs 109, 109 extend approximately in the rightdirection from the right side edge portion of the attached battery sideterminal 120, and small projecting bars 110, 110 respectively extendingin opposite directions to each other (front and back direction) areintegrally formed at the left end of the battery side terminal 120.Convex portions such as the small projecting bars 110, 110 and theabove-mentioned terminal positioning ribs 109, 109 that are formed inthe vicinity of the battery side terminal 120 are to serve asdiscriminating tabs 111, 111 . . . for discriminating the kind of thebattery pack 100, which will be described later on (refer to FIG. 7).

A right end portion 109 a of the above-mentioned terminal positioningrib 109 overhang the back surface case 106 side when the front surfacecase 105 is combined with the back surface case 106, and the right endportion 109 a of the terminal positioning rib 109 becomes one of upperside portions-to-be-locked 112 when the battery pack 100 is loaded onthe battery loading portion 10 of the camera main body 2, which will bedescribed later on (refer to FIG. 8).

At the back side corner portion of the upper surface of the back surfacecase 106, a comparatively small concave portion 113 that opens to theupper and back directions is provided, and such small concave portion113 becomes one of the upper side portions-to-be-locked 112 when thebattery pack 100 is loaded on the battery loading portion 10 (refer toFIG. 8).

Further, on a lower surface 106 b of the back surface case 106 is formeda concave bar groove-to-be-locked 114 extending in the front and backdirection, in which a lock pawl 41 of the rock mechanism 40 on the maincamera body 2 side is to lock (to be described later on), and thegroove-to-be-locked 114 serves as a lower side locking portion 112 ofthe battery pack 100 (refer to FIG. 6).

In this manner, by providing the portions-to-be-locked 112 (the rightend portion 109 a of the terminal positioning rib 109, the concaveportion 113 and the groove-to-be-locked 114) in various portions of thebattery pack side in the back surface case 106, that is, in onecomponent, the accuracy of the position of the battery pack 100 at atime of it being loaded on the battery loading portion 10 can beimproved (refer to FIG. 15).

Namely, loading of the battery pack 100 on the battery loading portion10 is performed as the back surface 106 a (left surface) of the backsurface case 106 comes in contact with a bottom surface 15 (refer toFIG. 15), and at the same time, as the portions-to-be-locked 112 invarious potions of the battery pack side (the right end portion 109 a ofthe terminal positioning rib 109, the concave portion 113 and the lockedgroove 114) become locked by corresponding locking portions (overhangportion 17 to be described later on, a small convex portion 20, the lockpawl 41) of the battery loading portion 10 side. If the plurality ofportions-to-be-locked 112, 112, . . . are provided in differentcomponent such as in, for example, the back surface case 106 and thefront surface case 105, when the back surface case 106 and the frontsurface case 105 are assembled inaccurately, there occurs play in thelocking state as well as a problem with the coupling state between thebattery side terminal 120 and the main body side terminal 30.

Then, with formation of the above-mentioned portions-to-be-locked 112for positioning concentrated in one part (back surface case 106) as inthe case of the battery pack 100, the accuracy of the position of thebattery pack 100 in its loaded state can be improved, which makes itpossible for the accuracy of the coupling between the back surface case106 and the front surface case 105 to be not so precise.

In addition, in the region that is an upper front portion of the frontsurface case 105 and corresponds to the above-mentioned battery sideterminal 120, a recess portion 115 that is approximately the same inheight as the concave portion 107 of the back surface case 106 isformed, and at the left side edge of the recess portion 115, there isformed a terminal pressing rib 116 for pressing the battery sideterminal 120 from the right direction (refer to FIGS. 7 through 9).

The length in the front and back direction of the terminal pressing rib116 is formed to be approximately the same as the interval between thetwo terminal positioning ribs 109, 109 of the above-mentioned backsurface case 106, that is, almost the same as the dimension in the frontand back direction of the battery side terminal 120, and as a result,when the front surface case 105 is assembled to the back surface case106, the terminal pressing rib 116 is positioned between theabove-mentioned terminal positioning ribs 109, 109 and presses thebattery side terminal 120 from the left direction, with the two terminalpositioning ribs 109, 109 of the back surface case 106 slightlyprojected more rightward than the terminal pressing rib 116 serving asthe portions-to-be-locked 112, 112 (refer to FIG. 8).

With the battery pack 100 of a standard capacity type, tworectangular-solid-like battery cells 102, 102 are housed in a batterycase 101 aligned one before the other, and the above-mentioned substrate104 is attached on the upper portion thereof, with the above-mentionedbattery side terminal 120 mounted on the front portion and theabove-mentioned IC chip 103 or the like mounted on the back portion, ofthe substrate 104 (refer to FIG. 4).

In this manner, since the battery side terminal 130 is provided at aposition shifted in one direction with respect to the battery pack 100,it becomes possible to provide a comparatively large space at a portionon the opposite side thereof, which makes it possible to arrange thereinelectronic portions such as the IC chip 103 and the like to improveefficient use of the space. Specifically, when therectangular-solid-like battery cells 102 are arranged in the batterycase 101, there occurs no dead space, so that the battery cells 102, 102can be efficiently arranged within the battery pack 100. Though it isdifficult to secure a space to arrange the battery side terminal 120,the IC chip 103 on the substrate 104 and the like which jut out from thebattery cell 102, effective use of the space can be carried out byarranging the battery side terminal 120 at the shifted position withrespect to the battery pack 100 as mentioned above (refer to FIGS. 4 and7).

In addition, since the battery side terminal 120 is provided at theshifted position with respect to the battery pack 100, erroneous loadingof the battery pack on the camera main body 2 can be prevented.

Meanwhile, detailed forms of the battery side terminal 120 and therectangular cutaway 108 that is a receiving side of the battery sideterminal 120 and the method of assembling the both will be described indetail later on.

Next, the battery loading portion 10 of the camera main body 2 will beexplained in detail.

The dimension of the battery loading portion 10 of the camera main body2 from the top to the bottom is formed to be slightly larger than thethickness (thickness in the left and right direction) of the backsurface case 106 of the above-mentioned battery case 101. As a result,in the state in which the battery pack 100 is loaded on the batteryloading portion 10, the back surface case 106 is positioned inside thebattery loading portion 10, and almost all the portion of the frontsurface case 105 juts out from the camera main body 2 (refer to FIGS. 3and 15).

A main body side terminal 30 is provided at a position opposed to theabove-mentioned main body side terminal 120, that is, the corner portionbetween the inner surface (lower surface) of the upper frame body 13 andthe bottom surface 15, or a position on the diagonally upper front side(refer to FIG. 10).

In a region corresponding to the position where the above-mentioned mainbody side terminal 30 is provided, the region being an opening side edge(right side edge) of an inner surface 13 a of the upper frame body 13,an overhang portion 17 projecting in the lower direction is formed, withthe dimension between the overhang portion 17 and the bottom surface 15of the battery loading portion 10 being formed to be the same as thatbetween the back surface 106 a of the above-mentioned back surface case106 and the right end portion of the terminal positioning rib 109 (referto FIG. 15)

As a result, when the battery pack 100 is loaded on the battery loadingportion 10, and the right end portion 109 a of the terminal positioningrib 109 is locked by the overhang portion 17, there is no play betweenthe two. Consequently, it is possible for locking to be carried out inthe state in which no play occurs in the region on the front side of theupper portion of the battery pack 100 (refer to FIG. 15).

From the back portion of the overhang portion 17 toward the bottomsurface 15 of the battery loading portion 10 (left direction) aprojecting bar (hereinafter referred to as ┌a blocking projecting bar┘)18 is integrally formed, and the tip portion of the blocking projectingbar 18 extends to a position apart in certain amounts from the bottomsurface 15 (refer to FIG. 10) so that it does not interfere with theabove-mentioned discriminating tab 111 of the back surface case 106 ofthe above-mentioned battery pack 100.

Such blocking projecting bar 18 and a small projecting portion 18 a inthe vicinity of the main body side terminal 30 to be described later onserve as a blocking portion 19 for determining whether or not thebattery pack 100 is to be loaded. Meanwhile, since the above-mentionedblocking portion 19 is made not to interfere with the discriminating tab111 of the battery pack 100, loading of the battery pack 100 on thebattery loading portion 10 is permitted, though in an apparatus, forexample, a video light 150 (the battery pack 100 with low capacity isnot to be loaded thereon) for loading such battery pack 100, there is acase where loading of the battery pack 100 is not permitted due todifference in capacity of the battery pack 100.

On an occasion such as this, it is designed such that theabove-mentioned blocking portion 19 extends in the vicinity of thebottom surface 16 of the battery loading portion 10 to interfere withthe above-mentioned discriminating tab 111, with the result that loadingof the battery pack 100 is blocked. Whether or not to permit loading ofsuch battery pack 100 is exercised based on the forms of and positionalrelations between the discriminating tab 111 of the above-mentionedbattery pack 100 side and the above-mentioned blocking portion 19, whichwill be described in detail later on.

At a position corresponding to the small convex portion 113 of theabove-mentioned back surface case 106, the position being a cornerportion between the back side of the inner surface (lower surface) 13 aof the upper frame body 13 of the battery loading portion 10 and aninner surface (front surface) 12 a of the back frame body 12 is formed asmall convex portion 20 that exactly engages with the small concaveportion 113 (refer to FIG. 10), and the position at which the smallconvex portion 20 is formed from the bottom surface 15 of the batteryloading portion 10 coincides with the position at which theabove-mentioned small concave portion 113 is formed from the backsurface 106 a of the back surface case 106. As a result, when thebattery pack 100 is loaded on the battery loading portion 10, locking ofthe battery pack 100 in the back side region of the upper portion isperformed without any play.

A rectangular aperture (hereinafter referred to as ┌a push-up platedisposition aperture┘) 21 is formed at the lower center of the bottomsurface 15 of the battery loading portion 10, and there is provided acutaway portion (hereinafter referred to as ┌a lock lever dispositionaperture┘) 22 continuing from the above-mentioned push-up platedisposition aperture 21 on the inner surface (upper surface) of thelower frame body 14 (refer to FIG. 2).

The lock mechanism 40 comprises a lock lever 42 having the lock pawl 41that engages with the groove-to-be-locked 114 formed on the lowersurface of the battery pack 100, a push-up plate 43 for pressing abottom surface 106 a of the battery pack 100 in the direction in whichthe bottom surface 106 a is disengaged, a jump-out prevention lever 44for preventing the battery pack 100 from jumping out when locking isreleased by the above-mentioned lock lever 42, and these lock lever 42,push-up plate 43 and jump-out prevention lever 44 are rotatablysupported on the same shaft by a base plate 45 on the inside of thecorner portion between the lower frame body 14 and the bottom surface 15(refer to FIGS. 11 and 12).

Then, the base plate 45 is housed inside of and fixed to the lower framebody 14, and the above-mentioned lock lever 42 is disposed in anabove-mentioned lock lever disposing aperture 22 of the lower frame body14, the push-up plate 43 in a push-up plate disposition aperture 21, thejump-out protection lever 44 in a rectangular-like cutaway (hereinafterrefer to as ┌jump-out protection lever disposing aperture┘) 46 that isformed continuous from the aperture 22, respectively (refer to FIG. 11).

In addition, a coil portion 48 a of a helical torsion spring 48 is fitaround a rotation shaft 47 that rotatably supports the lock lever 42,the push-up plate 43 and the jump-out protection lever 44, with one armportion 48 b acting on the lock lever 42 and the other arm portion 48 cacting on the push-up plate 43 to rotatably urge the lock lever 42 inthe upward direction and urge the push-up plate 43 in the rightdirection (refer to FIG. 12).

The lock lever 42 lends itself an appearance such that the whole thereofis an L-letter lying on its side, with an upper surface piece 49 beingformed to become a portion of the inner surface (upper surface) of theabove-mentioned lower frame body 14, a lock pawl 41 having a triangularcross-section being formed in the front and back direction, extending toa position that is shifted to the center of rotation of the uppersurface piece 49, and an operation portion 50 being formed at the lowerportion of the right side surface for operating the lock lever 42 (referto FIGS. 11 and 12).

Then, the lock pawl 41 is formed such that it is slightly shifted in theright direction (front side) from the bottom surface 15 of the batteryloading portion 10, with the distance from the bottom surface 15 beingequal to the distance from the bottom surface 106 a of thegroove-to-be-locked 114 of the above-mentioned battery pack 100 so thatthe battery pack 100 is resultantly pressed against the bottom surface15 of the battery loading portion 10 when the lock pawl 41 engages withthe groove-to-be-locked 114 (refer to FIG. 15).

In addition, on both the left and right side portions of the uppersurface piece 49 of the lock lever 42 there are respectively formedsmall projections 51, 51 that contact with edge portions of the locklever disposing aperture 22 of the lower frame body 14, and with theprojections 51, 51 colliding from the inside with the edge portions ofthe above-mentioned lock lever disposing aperture 22, rotational urgingby the above-mentioned helical torsion spring 48 is blocked. In such astate the upper surface of the upper surface piece 49 is flush with theupper surface of the lower frame body 14.

The push-up plate 43 has small pieces 52, 52 projecting in the lowerdirection from the center of rotation integrally formed, and with thecontact of small pieces 52, 52 with the above-mentioned base plate 45,rotational urging by the above-mentioned helical torsion spring 48 isblocked. In such a state the push-up plate 43 is in the state ofprojecting in the right direction from the push-up plate dispositionaperture 21 (refer to FIG. 12).

The jump-out prevention lever 44 has a helical compression spring 54provided in compressed form between the lower surface of a rotationalend portion thereof and a protruding piece 53, and the jump-outprevention lever 44 is thereby rotatably urged in the upper directionlike the above-mentioned lock lever 42 is (refer to FIGS. 13 through16). By the way, in FIGS. 13 through 16, the above-mentioned batteryside terminal 120 and the main body side terminal 30 are omitted.

The jump-out prevention lever 44 has a pawl portion 55 formed at therotational end, that projects in the upper direction, and there isintegrally formed a rotation blocking piece 56 at the base end portionthereof, that projects in the forward direction. With the collision ofthe rotation blocking piece 56 with a restraining piece 57 formed in thebase plate, rotational urging by the above-mentioned helical compressionspring 54 is blocked. In such a state, the above-mentioned pawl portion55 projects in the upper direction from the upper surface of the lowerframe body 14 (refer to FIGS. 13 through 16).

In addition, the pawl portion 55 of the jump-out prevention lever 44 isformed more rightward than the lock pawl 41 of the lock lever 42 (referto FIGS. 13 through 16).

In this manner, when the battery pack 100 is not in the state of beingloaded on the battery loading portion 10, the lock pawl 41 of the locklever 42 and the lock portion 55 of the jump-out prevention lever 44projects in the upper direction from the upper surface of the lowerframe body 14, and the push-up plate 43 is in the state of projecting inthe right direction from the bottom surface of the battery loadingportion 10 (refer to FIGS. 13 through 16).

Therefore, when the battery pack 100 is loaded on the battery loadingportion 10, a procedure will be carried out in the following manner, andthe loaded battery pack 100 is held in a locked state within the batteryloading portion 10 by the above-mentioned lock mechanism.

First of all, the battery pack 100 is inserted in the battery loadingportion 10 with the upper portion thereof being tilted, and the batteryside terminal 120 (including the terminal positioning rib 109 of theback surface case 105 and the terminal pressing rib 116 of the frontsurface case 105) is slid into the inside of the overhang portion 17 ofthe battery loading portion 10. Then as mentioned before, since thediscriminating tab 111 on the side of the battery pack 100 does notinterfere with the member (blocking portion 19) on the side of thebattery pack 100, the battery side terminal 120, the terminalpositioning rib 109 and the terminal pressing rib 116, of the batterypack 100 can be slid deep into the overhang portion 17 (refer to FIG.13).

At this time, although not shown in the figure, terminal members 122,122, 122 of the above-mentioned battery side terminal 120 and threeterminal pieces 31, 31, 31 of the main body side terminal 30 areseparately joined with each other.

In addition, as will be described in detail later on, by having thediscriminating tab 111 on the side of the battery pack 100 and theblocking portion 19 on the side of the battery loading portion 10 formedso as to interfere with each other, the above-mentioned battery sideterminal 120 can not be slid deep into the overhang portion 17 of thebattery loading portion 10. Therefore, the terminal member 122 of thebattery side terminal 120 and the terminal piece 31 of the main bodyside terminal 30 are intended not to join with each other.

Moreover, if the battery pack 100 is forced to be loaded on the batteryloading portion 10 even when the blocking portion 19 of the loadingportion 10 and the discriminating tab 111 of the battery pack 100interfere with each other, there will be a remote possibility in whichthe battery pack can be loaded thereon as a result of bending of theupper frame body 13 of the battery loading portion 10 as theabove-mentioned discriminating tab 111 presses the blocking portion 19.

On such an occasion, however, since the blocking portion 19 and thediscriminating tab 111 are formed in the vicinity of both the terminals120, 30, the main body side terminal 30 retreats in the direction towardwhich it is pressed, with the result that both of the terminals do notjoin with each other. Consequently, the terminal piece 31 and theterminal member 122 do not come in contact with each other and therebythe electric contact can be avoided.

Next, with the upper portion of the battery pack 100 (the portion of thebattery side terminal 120, which is locked by the overhang portion 17)as a rotation fulcrum, the lower portion of the battery pack 100 isrotated leftward so that it is loaded on the battery loading portion 10(refer to FIGS. 14 and 15).

At this time, after the pawl portion 55 of the jump-out protection lever44 of the above-mentioned lock mechanism 40 is kicked downward by thelower left side of the battery pack 100, the pawl portion 55 engageswith the groove-to-be-locked 114 (refer to FIG. 14).

Further, as the lower portion of the battery pack 100 is pressed againstthe battery loading portion 10, the pawl portion 55 of theabove-mentioned jump-out prevention lever 44 is kicked by the edgeportion of the groove-to-be-locked 114 and at the same time, the lockpawl 41 of the lock lever 42 is kicked by the lower left side edgeportion (bottom surface side corner portion) and then, the lock pawl 41engages with the groove-to-be-locked 114 to complete loading of thebattery pack 100 (refer to FIG. 15).

In addition, prior to the lock pawl 41 engaging with thegroove-to-be-locked 114, the lower surface 106 a of the battery pack 100rotates the push-up plate 43 in the left direction so that the lowersurface 106 a of the battery pack 100 is to approximately contact faceto face with the lower surface 15 of the battery loading portion 10(refer to FIG. 15).

Then, the rotations of these lock lever 42, jump-out protection lever 44and push-up plate 43 are performed against the spring force of theabove-mentioned helical torsion spring 48 or helical compression spring54.

At this time the terminal member 122 of the battery side terminal 120joins with the terminal piece 31 of the main body side terminal 30 andat the same time, the right end portion 109 a (portion-to-be-locked 112)of the terminal positioning rib 109 provided on the upper portion of thebattery pack 100 engages with the overhang portion 17, with the concaveportion 113 (portion-to-be-locked 112) of the battery pack 100 engagingwith the small convex portion 20 of the battery loading portion 10.

As a result, on the upper portion of the battery pack 100, the right endportion 109 a (portion-to-be-locked 112) of the terminal positioning rib109 and the overhang portion 17, and the small concave portion 113(portion-to-be-locked 112) and the small convex portion 20 engage, witheach other, respectively while the lock pawl 41 and thegroove-to-be-locked 114 engage with each other at the lower portion ofthe battery pack 100 so that the battery pack 100 is held in the batteryloading portion 10 (refer to FIG. 15).

The lock pawl 41 of the lock lever 42 and the pawl portion 55 of thejump-out protection lever 44 press the battery pack 100 in the upwarddirection to press the battery pack 100 against the upper frame body 13so that positioning thereof in the up and down direction is performed(refer to FIG. 15).

As a result, the battery side terminal 120 is pressed against the mainbody side terminal 30 so that the stable joining state between theterminal member 122 and terminal piece 31 is maintained. Particularly,the battery side terminal 120 and the main body side terminal 30 areprovided at positions shifted in the forward direction relative to thebattery pack 100 and also, since the jump-out prevention lever 44 isprovided at a position shifted in the forward direction from the middleportion of the front and back direction, that is, the jump-outprevention lever 44 is provided at a position opposed to both theterminals 120 and 30, the battery pack 100 is pressed upward by the pawlportion 55 so that the stable joining state between the terminal member122 and the terminal piece 31 can be ensured (refer to FIG. 2).

Further, since the battery pack 100 has the lower portion thereofpressed in the right direction by the push-up plate 43, which is to beblocked by the engagement between the lock pawl 41 and thegroove-to-be-locked 114, positioning in the loading direction (left andright direction) of the battery pack 100 is performed and furthermore,since the battery pack 100 is regulated by the small ribs 16, 16 thatare formed on the inner surface (back surface) 11 a of the front framebody 11, and on the inner surface (front surface) 12 a of the back framebody 12, positioning thereof in the front and back direction isperformed (refer to FIG. 3).

The battery pack 100 having been loaded on the battery loading portion10 of the camera main body 2 in such a manner will be unloaded in thefollowing way.

That is, first of all, lock disengagement of the lock mechanism bypressing the operation portion 50 by hand or finger is performed (referto FIG. 16).

When the lock lever 42 is operated, it is rotated in the lower directionagainst the spring force of the helical torsion spring 48 and therebydisengaged from the groove-to-be-locked 114 of the battery pack 100.

When the lock pawl 41 is disengaged from the battery pack 100, the lowerportion of the battery pack 100 is pressed in the left direction by thepush-up plate 43 and lifts from the bottom surface 15 of the batteryloading portion 10 (refer to FIG. 16).

At this time, when the lower portion of the battery pack 100 slightlyfloats from the bottom surface 15, the pawl portion 55 of the jump-outprevention lever 44 engages with the groove-to-be-locked 114. As aresult, although the battery pack 100 floats from the battery loadingportion 10, since the pawl portion 55 of the jump-out prevention lever44 is caught by the groove-to-be-locked 114, the battery pack 100 doesnot jump out inadvertently. Particularly, when the video camera 1 isoriented in the above-mentioned direction (direction in which ordinarilytaking video is performed), even if the locking of the battery pack 100is disengaged, the pawl portion 55 of the jump-out prevention lever 44is caught by the groove-to-be-locked 114 so that the battery pack 100 isnot disengaged from the battery loading portion 10, with the result thatthe battery pack 100 can be prevented from dropping therefrom.

Next, by having the battery pack 100 whose lower portion is liftinggripped and pulled out by hand in the direction in which it is beingdisengaged (right direction), the battery pack 100 is easily disengagedfrom the battery loading portion 10 because of disengagement between thepawl portion 55 of the jump-out prevention lever 44 and thegroove-to-be-locked 114.

Next, the battery side terminal 120 and how it is assembled to thebattery pack 100 will be explained in detail.

As mentioned above, the battery side terminal 120 is comprised of aterminal case 121 and the terminal members 122, 122, 122 that areprovided therein by insert molding, and the terminal case 122 lendsitself a flat cubic solid block-like appearance with five grooves 123,123, 124, 124, 124 opening upward as well as leftward being formed(refer to FIGS. 17 through 19).

Of the above-mentioned five grooves, two grooves 123, 123 on the frontside and back side are larger in width than other three grooves 124,124, 124 and formed larger in length and depth than the other threegrooves 124, 124, 124 and serve as guide grooves for positioning, aswill be described later on, with respect to the main body side terminal30 (refer to FIGS. 17 through 19).

In addition, the median three grooves 124, 124, 124 of theabove-mentioned five grooves serve as terminal disposition grooves 124,124, 124 with a pair of contact pieces 125 being arranged to face eachother in each of the grooves 124, and a housing space 126 for housingthe above-mentioned contact pieces 125, 125 is formed inside theterminal disposition grooves 124, 124, 124 (refer to FIGS. 17 and 18).Here, only one terminal member 122 is illustrated by broken line inFIGS. 17 and 18, and the other two terminal members 122, 122 areomitted.

Further, chamfering process such as an R corner, taper corner or thelike has been applied to the opening side edges of these guide grooves123, 123 and terminal disposition grooves 124, 124. As a result, as willbe described later on, guide pieces 32, 32 of the main body sideterminal 30 and the terminal pieces 31, 31, 31 are easily inserted intothese respective grooves 123, 123, 124, 124, 124 (refer to FIGS. 26through 28).

The respective terminal members 122 of the battery side terminal 120 areintegrally formed of the contact pieces 125, 125 facing each other, abase piece 127 connecting one contact piece 125 with the other 125, anda lead piece 128 that is soldered to the substrate 104 arranged in thebattery case 101 and extends from the base piece 127 in the directionopposite to the contact pieces 125, 125 (refer to FIGS. 21 and 22).

The contact pieces 125, 125 have the base potions thereof embedded inthe above-mentioned terminal case 121, and hemispherical contact convexportions 125 a, 125 a projecting in the direction in which they arenearing each other are formed at the tip portions thereof, the twocontact convex portions 125 a, 125 a being in the state of contactingwith each other without pressure being applied to the both (so-calledzero-contact state). When the terminal disposition grooves 124, 124, 124of the battery side terminal 120 are looked at, only the two contactconvex portions 125 a, 125 a can be seen (refer to FIGS. 20 and 21).

Therefore, when a contact portion 35 is inserted in the terminaldisposition groove 124, it contacts with only the contact convexportions 125 a, 125 a. From whichever of two directions (left and rightdirection and upper to lower direction) the contact portion 35 isinserted in the terminal disposition groove 124, since the springcharacteristics of the contact pieces 125, 125 are the same, the contactstability between both of the terminals 120 and 30 can resultantly beensured. Of course, this effect is limited to the case where attentionis focused on only the structure of the terminal, though only insertionsfrom the back left and right directions have been practiced with respectto the loading of the battery pack 100 on the video camera 1 in theabove-mentioned embodiments.

The base piece 127 is exposed at a position where it is attached to theright side surface of the terminal case 121, and the lead piece 128 isbent at right angles and extended in the right direction from the loweredge of the base piece 127 to be approximately flush with a bottomsurface 121 a of the terminal case 121 (refer to FIGS. 20 and 21).

On both the front and back side surfaces of the terminal case 121 areformed slide convex portions 129, 129 extending in the left and rightdirection, and the slide convex portions 129, 129 are both the front andback side edges of the rectangular cutaway 108 of the above-mentionedback surface case 106 and slide-engage with slide grooves 117, 117formed on the lower side of the terminal positioning rib 109 so that thebattery side terminal 120 is supported to the back surface case 106(refer to FIG. 9).

The left ends of the slide grooves 117, 117 of the back surface case 106are blocked up so that leftward positioning of the battery side terminal120 is performed when it is slide-engaged therewith. That is to say, theposition from the back surface 106 a of the back surface case 106 to thebattery side terminal is regulated.

There are formed cut grooves 130, 130 that are respectively the cornerportions between the right side surface and front side surface, andbetween the right side surface and back side surface and contiguous tothe upper side of the above-mentioned slide convex portions 129, 129,and the cut grooves 130, 130 are to be engaged with projections 118, 118provided leftward from the front and back end portions of theabove-mentioned terminal pressing rib 116 (refer to FIG. 9).

Then, such battery side terminal 120 has three lead pieces 128, 128, 128soldered at predetermined positions (front side left corner portion) ofthe above-mentioned substrate 104 and mounted on the front side cornerportion of the substrate 104 (refer to FIGS. 4 and 7). In addition,electronic components such as an IC chip 103 and the like are mounted onpredetermined backside positions of the substrate 104, where the batteryside terminal 120 is not mounted on (refer to FIG. 7).

Therefore, the battery pack 100 is assembled as follows.

That is, the battery cells 102, 102 are combined with each other in thefront-to-back aligned state, and the above-mentioned substrate 104 onwhich the above-mentioned battery side terminal 120, IC chip 103 and thelike have been mounted is attached on the upper portion of the batterycells 102, 102 (refer to FIG. 4).

Next, the battery cells 102, 102 on which such substrate 104 had beenattached is inserted in the back surface case 106 from the rightdirection thereof. At this time, the battery side terminal 120 isslide-inserted in the rectangular cutaway 108 of the back surface case106 from the right direction (refer to FIG. 7).

Then, as mentioned above, the slide convex portions 129, 129 of thebattery side terminal 120 are inserted in the slide grooves 117, 117 ofthe back surface case 106 (refer to FIG. 7).

Finally, both are combined with each other by joining the front surfacecase 105 with the back surface case 106 to cover the battery cells 102(refer to FIG. 8).

At this time, the projections 118, 118 of the front case 105 are engagedwith the cut grooves 130, 130 of the back surface case 106, and at thesame time, the terminal pressing rib 116 presses the right surface ofthe terminal case 121 to cover the base pieces 127, 127, 127 of theterminal member 122, which are exposed from the right surface thereof.Then, positioning in the left and right direction of the batteryterminal 120 is performed with the battery terminal 120 held between theback surface case 106 and the front surface case 105.

The combination of the front surface case 105 and the back surface case106 is performed in the state in which the opening peripheral edges ofthe both are joined with each other by ultrasonic welding. In addition,the both may be bonded with each other with adhesives instead ofultrasonic welding.

As just described, the battery pack 100 can be composed of threeportions in such a manner that the back surface case 106, the batterycell 102 (including the battery side terminal 120, the substrate 104 andthe like), the front surface case 105 are assembled thereto from onedirection.

Next, the combination of the main body side terminal 30 and theabove-mentioned battery side terminal 120 will be explained in detail.

First of all, the main body side terminal 30 is provided at theabove-mentioned position (front portion bottom surface side corner), andcomprises three terminal pieces 31, 31, 31 provided to project from thebottom surface 15 and the inner surface 13 a of the upper frame body 13,the two guide pieces 32, 32 provided to sandwich these terminal pieces31, 31, 31 from the front and back directions and a protection plate 33rotatably provided on the upper frame body 13 so as to cover the upperspace of the respective terminal pieces 31, 31, 31 (refer to FIGS. 22and 23).

The terminal piece 31 is a rectangular flat plate seen from the frontand back direction with the upper edge and left edge thereof beingembedded in the upper frame body 13, and a lead portion 34 is providedto project from the upper frame body 13 (refer to FIG. 24), the portionexposed from the upper frame body 13 (down edge and right edge) servingas the contact portion 35 held between the contact pieces 125, 125 ofthe above-mentioned battery side terminal 120, and the end side edgethereof have been chamfered.

Three of the terminal pieces 31, 31, 31 are formed at the same intervalas that of the terminal disposition grooves 124, 124, 124 of theabove-mentioned battery side terminal 120, and the thickness of eachterminal piece 31 is formed into approximately a half of the width ofthe terminal disposition groove 124 formed in the above-mentionedbattery side terminal 120 (refer to FIGS. 22 and 23).

The guide piece 32 is of a rectangular shape similar to that of theabove-mentioned terminal piece 31 when seen from the front and backdirection, and is integrally formed together with the upper frame body13 and the bottom surface 15 of the battery loading portion (refer toFIG. 24).

In addition, the guide terminals 32, 32 are larger than the contactportion 35 of the terminal piece 31 when seen from the front and backdirection, and the plate thickness thereof is formed to be thicker thanthe terminal piece 31. Further, the guide terminals 32, 32 are formed atthe same internal as that of the guide grooves 123, 123 formed in theabove-mentioned battery terminal 120, and the plate thickness of each ofthe guide pieces 32, 32 is formed to be slightly smaller than the widthof the guide grooves 123, 123 of the terminal case 121 of theabove-mentioned battery side terminal 120 with the end side edge thereofbeing chamfered (refer to FIG. 23).

As described above, since the guide piece 32 is formed to be larger thanthe contact portion 35 of the terminal piece 31, when the main body sideterminal 30 is about to be combined with the battery side terminal 120,the guide piece 32 is made to enter into the guide groove 123 earlierthan the contact portion 35 enters into the terminal groove 124 (referto FIG. 26).

The protection plate 33 is supported to the position closer to theopening side edge (right side edge) of the front end portion of theinner surface (undersurface) of the upper frame body 13 for freelyrotating in the up and down direction (refer to FIGS. 24 and 25). To beconcrete, at the front end portion of the inner surface (lower surface)of the upper frame body 13 is formed a convex-like protection framehousing 13 b, and at both the front and back side edges of theprotection plate 33 are integrally formed support shaft projectingportions 36, 36 for rotatably engaging with the right end both sideportions of the above-mentioned protection plate housing portion 13 b,and a coil spring 37 is arranged around the front side support shaftprojecting portion 36. The protection plate 33 is urged in thecounterclockwise direction when seen from the backward direction (referto FIGS. 24 and 25).

At a rotation fulcrum portion of the protection plate 33 are providedrotation blocking portions 38, 38 (only one of them is shown in thefigure) that are in contact with the upper frame body 13 for blockingthe above-mentioned counterclockwise rotation, and the protection plate33 becomes a rotational end of the counterclockwise direction sidethereof when the rotational end thereof is oriented in the left obliquedownward direction (approximately 45° degrees) (refer to FIGS. 10( a),24, and 29). In addition, the rotational end of the clockwise directionside of the protection plate 33 is at a position where it is housed inthe protection plate housing portion 13 b of the upper frame body 13, orapproximately in a horizontal position (refer to FIG. 10( b)).

The protection plate 33 in the front and back direction is slightlysmaller in size than the distance between the above-mentioned two guidepieces 32, 32 and is made to always rotate between the two guide pieces32, 32. At the position corresponding to the above-mentioned terminalpiece 31 are formed slits 39, 39, 39 that open to the rotational endside edge. As a result, when the protection plate 33 is rotated upward,the respective terminal pieces 31, 31, 31 are inserted in these slits39, 39, 39 to permit the protection plate 33 to rotate, with theterminal pieces 31, 31, 31 being exposed at the time of rotation (referto FIGS. 10, 22, and 23). Here, FIG. 10( a) shows the state in which theprotection plate has been rotated, and FIG. 10( b) shows the state inwhich the protection plate is not rotated.

Then, when external force is not applied to the protection plate 33, atthe rotational end in the counterclockwise direction of the protectionplate 33, the corner portions between the two guide pieces 32, 32 are inthe state in which they cover the both side ends of the rotational endedges of the protection plate 33 (refer to FIG. 24). In addition, inthis state, the corners of the contact portions 35, 35, 35 of theabove-mentioned respective terminals 31, 31, 31 are in the state ofengaging with the above-mentioned slits 39, 39, 39 (refer to FIG. 25).

Then, as will be described in detail, when the battery pack 100 isloaded on the battery loading portion 10, the terminal case 121 of thebattery side terminal 120 presses the above-mentioned protection plate33 to rotate in the clockwise direction against the spring force of thehelical torsion spring 37 and ends up being positioned in the protectionplate housing portion 13 b of the upper frame body 13 (refer to FIG.29).

As a result, the contact portions 35. 35. 35 of the main body terminal30 are exposed and enter relatively into the terminal dispositiongrooves 124, 124, 124 of the terminal case 121 to be held between thepair of contact pieces 125, 125, and the electrical contact isestablished (refer to FIG. 28).

In this manner, when the protection plate 33 is in the state in which itis not subjected to external force, since the protection plate 33 is inthe state of covering the contact portions 35, 35, 35, the contactportions 35, 35, 35 are not exposed to prevent foreign materials fromattaching thereto (refer to FIG. 25).

In addition, when any kind of collision occurs on the portion of themain body terminal 30, for example, such as when the battery pack 100 isloaded in a wrong orientation (erroneous loading), there is apossibility that a member other than the battery terminal 120 maycollide with the main body side terminal 30.

Even on such an occasion, since the guide pieces 32, 32 are formed to belarger than the contact portions 35, 35, 35, the external force actsmainly on the guide pieces 32, 32, but not on the contact portions 35,35, 35, thereby preventing the contact portions 35, 35, 35 from beingdeformed.

Further, when comparatively small foreign materials collide with themain body side terminal 30, since they collide with the protection plate33 prior to colliding with the terminal piece 31 (contact portion 35)due to the presence of the above-mentioned protection plate 33, theexternal force is alleviated so that the contact portion 35 is notdirectly subjected to large external force.

Furthermore, as described above, since the protection plate 33 isprovided in the state of being held between the two guide pieces 32, 32,when external force with a front and back directional element is appliedto the protection plate 33, since the guide pieces 32, 32 act so as tosupport the protection plate 33, and further, since, as described above,the three respective contact portions 35, 35, 35 are inserted in theslits 39, 39, 39, the external force acts on the three contact portions35, 35, 35 through the respective slits 39, 39, 39 against the front andback directional displacement of the protection plate 33. Consequently,since the external force never acts on the one contact portion 35, it ispossible in this regard to prevent the contact portions 35, 35, 35 frombeing deformed.

As in the above-mentioned embodiment, such main body side terminal 30may have guide pieces 32, 32 integrally formed at the portion of theupper frame body 13, and terminal pieces 31, 31, 31 integrally formed byinsert molding or a protection plate 33 rotatably provided, or may haverespective portions molded or formed as another member in a base memberof a predetermined form to attach such member to the upper frame body 13as a terminal.

Next, how the battery side terminal 120 is connected to the main bodyside terminal 30 when the battery pack 100 is loaded on the batteryloading portion 10 will be explained.

First of all, the battery pack 100 has the battery side terminal 120(including the terminal positioning rib 109, the terminal pressing rib116) obliquely positioned so as to dive under the overhang portion 17 ofthe upper frame body 13 so that the main body side terminal 30 and thebattery side terminal 120 are opposed to each other.

Next, when the battery side terminal 120 is made to dive under theabove-mentioned overhang portion 17 (refer to FIG. 13), the guide pieces32, 32 of the main body side terminal 30 are relatively inserted in theguide grooves 123, 123 of the battery side terminal 120 (refer to FIG.26). At this time, since the guide grooves 123, 123 have had the openingside edges thereof chamfered, and the end side edges of the guide pieceshave been also chamfered, it has become easy to draw in the both.

In such a condition, the guide pieces 32, 32 are in the state of beingslightly inserted in the guide grooves 123, 123, and as the result ofwhich positioning of the battery terminal 120 relative to the main bodyterminal 30 is performed. As mentioned above, prior to the contactpieces 125, 125 coming in contact with the contact portions 35, 35, 35,since the guide pieces 32, 32 composed of a mold member is engaged withthe guide grooves 125, 125, positioning can be performed by a preciselyformed member. Consequently, precision positioning of both the terminals120, 30 can be performed before the contact pieces 125, 125 and thecontact portion 35 of both the terminal 120, 30 come in contact witheach other, with the result that the contact to be made later on betweenthe contact pieces 125, 125 and the contact portion 35 is performed withhigh precision.

From this state, the lower portion of the battery pack 100 is rotatedand then is loaded on the battery loading portion 10. The rotation ofthe battery pack 100 is performed by having the portion-to-be-locked ofthe back surface case 106 caught by the above-mentioned overhang portion17 with the region as rotational fulcrum (refer to FIG. 14).

Then, the contact portion 35 of the main side terminal 30 relativelyenters into the terminal disposition groove 124 of the battery sideterminal 120 (refer to FIG. 27), and contacts with and push aside thetwo contact convex portions 125 a, 125 a so that the contact pieces 125,125 elastically bend and sandwich the contact portions 35. As a result,an electric connection between the battery side terminal 120 and themain body side terminal 30 is established (refer to FIG. 28).

In addition, the relations between the contact portion 35 and thecontact pieces 125, 125 are such that the contact portion 35 relativelymoves in the surface direction thereof, and since the two contact pieces125, 125 are elastically bent in a way that the tip portions (contactconvex portions 125 a, 125 a) thereof are pushed to move away from eachother, unreasonable force does not act between the both, with the resultthat the contact portion 35 and the contact pieces 125′, 125 are neverdeformed.

Further, since the relations between the battery side terminal 120 andthe main body side terminal 30 are such that the terminal dispositiongroove 124, 124, 124 that are open in two directions of the battery sideterminal 120 contact with the flat plate-like contact portions 35, 35,35 having corners at approximately right angles thereto, the batteryside terminal 120 can be possibly combined with the main body sideterminal 30 from directions in the range of 90° degrees including theleft and right direction and the up and down direction.

That is, when only the structures of the battery side terminal 120 andthe main body side 30 are taken into consideration, the battery sideterminal 120 can be combined with the main body side terminal 30 fromthe left direction or the downward direction or from the left obliquedownward direction including the just-mentioned directions, meaning thatthe former can be combined with the latter from any of directions in therange of approximately 90° degrees, and further, in any of thecombinations from whichever of these directions, unreasonable forcenever acts on either of the contact portion 35 and the contact pieces125, 125, with the result that the contact portion 35 and the contactpieces 125, 125 are never deformed.

Of course, in the relations between the above-mentioned battery pack 100and the battery loading portion 10 of the camera main body 2, since thebattery side terminal 120 is so intended to combine with the main bodyside terminal 30 from approximately the left direction, it may be saidthat the structures of the battery side terminal 120 and the main bodyside terminal 30 can not be fully brought into use.

However, since loading of the above-mentioned battery pack 100 on thebattery loading portion 10 is performed by rotation, and therefore, thecombination of both the terminals 130 and 30 is not a directionalcomponent of at least only one direction, by employing the terminalstructures, it may be said that the contact portion 35 and the contactpieces 125, 125, of both the terminals 120 and 30 are not subjected tounreasonable force when brought into contact with each other, andthereby are not subject to deformation.

In addition, since the contact convex portions 125 a, 125 a are providedat the tip portions of the contact pieces 125, 125 so that the contactconvex portions 125 a, 125 a contact with the contact portion 35, thereis further a possibility that both the terminals are combined with eachother in the range of 90° degrees including the above-mentioned twodirections.

That is, although the contact portion 35 enters to push aside thecontact pieces 125, 125 such that they move away from each other, sincethe contact portion 35 contacts only with the contact convex portions125 a, 125 a, the battery loading portion 10 can receive the batterypack 100 in the same manner in any of the combinations of both theterminals 120 and 30 from any of the directions in the range of 90°degrees including the above-mentioned two directions.

Further, since the contact convex portions 125 a, 125 a are provided atthe tip portions of the contact pieces 125, 125, even when the positionsin the front and back direction of the contact pieces 125, 125 and thecontact portion 35 are slightly shifted, it is possible to maintain thestable state of the connection between the two terminals (contact piece125, 125 and contact portion 35).

Next, the quality of material and the width of the terminal member 122that affect the state of contact between the contact pieces 125, 125 andthe contact portion 35 relating to the combination of both the terminals120 and 30 will be examined.

Hereupon, the terminal piece 31 is made of brass (thickness: t=0.35 mm),and the contact portion thereof is gilded 0.76 μm in thickness. Further,the reason why brass is selected as the material for the terminal piece31 is because brass, phosphor bronze and Beryllium copper are generallyused as a point of contact, and costs and workability are also takeninto consideration.

Furthermore, with respect to gilding, a Nickel layer is used as a basesheet, and 0.75 in thickness is set with an eye to increasing a safetyratio because, when the state of use of the battery pack 100 and thevideo camera 1 is taken into consideration, repeated insertion andpulling-out of the battery pack 100 are frequently performed.

Consequently, even if applied to the terminal structures of the videocamera 1 and the battery pack 100, the contact convex portions 125 a,125 a can fully withstand gild wasting when they are in ordinary use.

In addition, the layer thickness of 0.76 μm in gilding is mainly forcontact portions, that is, the contact portion 35, though a layerthickness of not more than 0.1 μm in gilding is recommended for the leadportion 34. That is for ensuring stability of electric connectionbetween the both.

Then, with respect to the terminal member 122, four samples are testedto select one of them. As materials for such tests, as mentioned above,three materials (brass, phosphor bronze, Beryllium copper) had beenconsidered, but by taking into consideration the spring force of thecontact pieces 125, 125, experiments were performed on phosphor bronzeand Beryllium copper because of their favorable properties.

A sample {circle around (1)} used phosphor bronze (thickness: t=0.2 mm)as material with 0.76 μm thick gilding being applied to a contactportion, a sample {circle around (2)} used phosphor bronze (thickness:t=0.2 mm) as material with 0.76 μm thick gilding being applied to acontact portion, a sample {circle around (3)} used Beryllium copper(thickness: t=0.2 m) as material with 0.76 μm thick gilding beingapplied a contact portion, and a sample {circle around (4)} usedBeryllium copper (thickness: t=0.15 mm) as material with 0.76 μm thickgilding being applied to a contact portion. Further, as for gilding, aNickel layer was used as a base sheet as in the case of theabove-mentioned terminal member 122. In addition, the reason why 0.76 μmlayer thickness was selected is also the same. Further, 0.76 μm gildingon the contact pieces 125, 125 is the same thickness on contactportions, that is, the contact convex portions 125, 125, and it isrecommended that gilding on the lead piece 128 be not more than 0.1 μmthick.

As for a testing method, there was performed an endurance test in whichthe terminal piece 31 was inserted into and pulled out from the terminalmember 122 7000 times.

Experiments were conducted on items such as contact resistance, totalengaging force, total disengaging force and appearance examinations, andthe former three test items are shown by respective values atpredetermined numbers of times from one to 7000. In addition, appearanceexaminations were conducted by visual observation after 7000 times of anendurance test.

Further, contact resistance was measured by using a four-terminal methodwith an open circuit voltage set at not more than 20 mv, a short circuitcurrent at not more than 100 mA and a stipulated value at 20 mΩmax.

Total engaging force was measured by engaging (combining) the terminal120 and the terminal 30, and then, engaging force was measured, and theengaging force was set at 10N (Newton) max.

With respect to total disengagement force, disengaging force wasmeasured at the time of when the engagement (combining) between both theterminal 120 and the terminal 30 was released, and the disengaging forcewas set at 0.3N (Newton) min.

The test results about the former three test items will be shown inFIGS. 31 through 33.

With respect to the sample {circle around (1)}, contact resistanceshowed little but stable (refer to FIG. 31) dispersion andinsertion-and-pull-out force was also stable to obtain a good value(refer to FIGS. 32 and 33). In addition, appearance examinations showedthat the contact convex portions 125 a, 125 a of the contact pieces 125,125 were worn by proper amounts, and no problematic phenomenon wasfound.

With respect to the sample {circle around (2)}, contact resistanceshowed large dispersion in the 7000 times endurance test and totalengaging force (refer to FIG. 32) was weak. In addition, appearanceexaminations showed there were few traces of scratches. It was alsoobserved that total engaging force was weak to the extent that contactpressure was little to cause a problem with contact resistance.

With respect to the sample {circle around (3)}, although there were noproblems with contact resistance and total engaging force as well,disengaging force varied largely in the 7000 times endurance test, and aso-called jerky feel at disengagement tended to occur at a time ofdisengagement. Further, appearance examinations showed that the morelargely disengaging force varied, the more abrasive scratches occurredon the terminal piece 31, and the more violently, the contact convexportions 125 a, 125 a of the terminal piece 31 were worn.

With regard to the sample {circle around (4)}, total engaging force wasweak, and contact resistance was comparatively stable, though there wasa hidden possibility that a problem would arise with contact resistancevalue. In addition, appearance examinations showed that to the extentthat total engaging force was small, there were few traces of abrasivescratches.

As a result, of the four samples, it can be considered that the sample{circle around (1)} is the most suitable.

Further, as for Beryllium copper, in the case of gilding being appliedto Beryllium, a so-called after-plating (plating process after apredetermined form is fabricated) was only available, which was thereason why the sample {circle around (1)} was selected.

That is, Beryllium copper is generally difficult to form and shape(press working such as bending and folding) after it is gilded, so inthe form of the above-mentioned terminal member 122, its form after itis formed and shaped is such that the contact convex portions 125 a, 125a are in contact with each other. As a result, when gilding is appliedto anything that has such contact portions, the contact portions ends upbeing gilded as they are in contact with each other by after-plating.

Meanwhile, with respect to the above-mentioned four samples, they allsatisfied above-mentioned stipulated values (contact resistance: 20 mΩmax, engaging force 10Nmax, disengaging force 0.3N min), and therewasn't any problem with selecting any one of these samples. However,when further bad conditions are taken into consideration, the sample{circle around (1)} was favorably selected because good results wereobtained.

Further, contact pressure of the spring force of the contact pieces 125,125, when the sample {circle around (1)} was selected as materials ofthe terminal member 122, will be considered (refer to FIGS. 34 through36).

Before that, the dimensions and the like of the terminal member 122 andterminal disposition groove 124 on which the terminal member 122 isdisposed will be clearly described (refer to FIGS. 34 and 35).

The contact pieces 125, 125 of the terminal member 122 is, as mentionedbefore, 0.2 mm in thickness, 1.2 mm in width dimension, and the lengthof the portion exposed from a buried portion is 3.9 mm, and theabove-mentioned contact convex portions 125 a, 125 a having r=0.3 areformed with the position 0.45 mm shifted from the edge thereof towardthe base piece 127 side being at the center (refer to FIGS. 34 and 35).In addition, the contact pieces 125, 125 extend from the buried portionsuch that they approach each other, and are bent to become parallel toeach other approximately at the center of the longitudinal directionwith the interval between the two from the bent portion to the edgeportion being formed to be 0.6 mm. As a result, the contact convexportions 125 a, 125 a come into zero contact with each other (refer toFIG. 21).

The opening width of the terminal disposition groove 124 is formed to be0.45 mm, and the plate thickness t of the above-mentioned contactportion 35 is made 0.35 mm, so that when the contact portion 35 entersinto the terminal disposition groove 124 in the standard position(median), the interval between the inner edge of the terminaldisposition groove 124 and the contact portion 35 becomes(0.45−0.35/2=0.05 mm) (refer to FIGS. 34 and 35).

At this time, there occur the approximately same bends to the twocontact pieces 125, 125, and the amount of displacement becomes 0.175mm. In addition, contact pressure at that time becomes 1.0091N (refer toFIG. 36).

Then, when the contact portion 35 is entered into the terminaldisposition groove 124 by being shifted in one direction, the maximumamount of displacement occurs to one contact piece 125 while the minimumamount of displacement occurs to the other contact piece, with theresult that respective contact pressure at that time has become 1.4416Nand 0.4609N, respectively (refer to FIG. 36).

Therefore, in the case where the above-mentioned material (phosphorbronze) of the above-mentioned sample {circle around (1)} is used, whenthe contact portion 35 comes in contact with the contact convex portion125 a, it is observed that its contact pressure is 1.4416N at themaximum and 0.4609N at the minimum, which is enough as contact pressure.

In the case where gilding is applied, generally 0.09812N-0.1961N isenough as contact pressure, though in the above-mentioned sample {circlearound (1)}, contact pressure greater than that is exerted thereon,which seems too excessive.

However, since this terminal structure is based on the premise that itis applied to the electric contact between the battery pack 100 and thevideo camera 1, it is easily predicted that the number of insertions andpulling-out are many, and gilding is worn.

Therefore, it is necessary to secure the value of contact resistancebelow the stipulated value even if the Nickel layer as the base sheetbecomes exposed in case gilding is worn off.

Then, since it is said that contact resistance as the stipulated valuecan be secured when contact pressure of Nickel is generally 0.5884N, bysecuring the maximum value 1.4416N of one contact piece 125 though theabove-mentioned minimum value of the other contact piece 125 is 0.4609N,resistance value is made to satisfy the stipulated value even when thegilding is worn off (refer to FIG. 36).

In addition, insulation resistance and withstand voltage were subjectedto examinations as other items than the above items, with the resultthat the above-mentioned four samples came within the stipulated value,and there were not found any particular differences.

Further, as anti-environmental performance, tests of electricperformance and mechanical performance were carried out with respect tomoisture resistance, a temperature cycle and spraying of salty water,with the result that any particular differences have not been obtained.

Next, in the above-mentioned embodiments, the battery pack 100(component-to-be-loaded) having the battery side terminal 120 and thevideo camera 1 (main body side apparatus) having the main body sideterminal 30 were cited and explained as examples, though there are a drycell pack 140 (component-to-be-loaded) that also has a battery sideterminal 120 as has the battery pack 100, and the video light 150 and abattery charger 160 each of which has a main body terminal 30 as has thevideo camera 1 (refer to FIGS. 37 through 40).

Further, with respect to the battery pack 100, there are plural kindsaccording to the difference in capacity, and with respect to the videocamera 1, there are a charge-complying-type 1A equipped with a chargefunction and a charge-non-complying-type 1B without a charge function(refer to FIGS. 37 through 40).

When all of these plural kinds of devices (plural kinds of battery pack100, dry cell pack 140 and the like) with the side terminal 120 arecapable of being loaded on apparatus (video camera 1 n(charge-complying-type 1A and a charge-non-complying-type 1B), videolight 150 and battery charger 160) having the main body terminal 30,there are cases where problems occur.

For example, the dry cell pack 140 is capable of being loaded on a videocamera 1B (charge-non-complying-type) though it is necessary for the drycell pack 140 to be made not capable of being loaded on a video camera1A (charge-complying-type) and the battery charger 160, and further, inthe case of the video light 150, it is necessary for a highcapacity-dedicated-type 150A to be permitted to be loaded on only a highcapacity battery pack 100H of the battery packs 100, and never to bepermitted to be loaded on other low capacity battery pack 100L, standardcapacity battery pack 100S and dry cell pack 140.

Here, the charge-complying-type 1A is equipped with a DC in jackterminal, and when the DC in jack is connected thereto, a camera mainbody 2 can be driven by charging the battery pack 100 that is loaded onthe battery loading portion 10, and the charge-non-complying-type 1B isapparatus that does not have such a charging function. The video camera1 enumerated in the above-mentioned embodiments belongs to thecharge-complying-type 1A on which the above-mentioned dry cell pack 140is not capable of being loaded.

Then, it is necessary to judge whether or not the battery pack 100,although it has such battery side terminal 120, is capable of beingloaded on the apparatus having the main side terminal 30, and thereby toprevent its loading when it is judged that loading is not permitted.

Then the discriminating tab 111 is provided in the vicinity of theabove-mentioned battery side terminal 120 while the above-mentionedblocking portion 19 for blocking loading of the battery pack 100 or thelike is provided at the corresponding region in the vicinity of the mainbody side terminal 30.

Hereinafter, the specific examples of the discriminating tab 111 of thebattery side terminal 120 and the blocking portion 19 of the main bodyside terminal 30 will be shown.

As for the kinds of the discriminating tab 111 of the battery sideterminal 120, there are four kinds such as an L type, H type, D type,and L type, and the L type discriminating tab 111L being applied to alow capacity type battery pack L, the S type discriminating tab 111Sbeing applied to a standard type battery type 100S, the H typediscriminating tab 111 being applied to a high capacity type batterypack 100H and the D type discriminating tab 111D being applied to thedry cell 140 (refer to FIGS. 37 through 40).

In addition, as for the kinds of the blocking portion 19 of the mainbody side terminal 30, there are four kinds such as a type I, a type II,a type III and a type IV, and the blocking portion type I being appliedto the video camera 1A of the charge-complying-type (the same with thebattery charger 160), the blocking portion type II being applied to thevideo camera 1B of the charge-non-complying-type, the blocking portiontype III being applied to the high capacity-dedicated video light 150A,and the blocking portion type IV being applied to a non-low capacityvideo light 150B (refer to FIGS. 37 through 40).

The S type discriminating tab 111S applied to the standard capacitybattery pack 100S is structured as described above, and has the smallprojecting bars 110 formed to extend in opposite directions (front andback direction) to each other from the left ends of the terminalpositioning ribs 109 that is formed at the position shiftedapproximately rightward from the back surface 106 a of the back surfacecase 106 (refer to FIGS. 37 through 40).

The L type discriminating tab 111L applied to the low capacity batterypack 100L is formed such that the small projecting bar 110 formed at theleft end of the terminal positioning rib 109 of the above-mentioned Stype discriminating tab 111S extends to the back surface 106 a of theback surface case 106, and therefore, a small projecting bar 110L of theL type discriminating bar 111L is formed to be continuous from the backsurface 106 a of the back surface case 106 (refer to FIGS. 37 through40).

The H type discriminating tab 111H applied to the high capacity batterypack 100H is formed such that the small projecting bars 110, 110L whichextend in opposite directions (front and back direction) to each otherin the above-mentioned S type discriminating tab 111S and the L typediscriminating 111L are not formed (refer to FIGS. 37 through 40).

The D type discriminating tab 111D applied to the dry cell pack 140 isformed such that the small projecting bars 110, 110L are not formed fromthe left end of the terminal positioning rib 109 as in theabove-mentioned H type discriminating tab 111H, though a discriminatingrib 141 extending in the right direction from the central portion of theterminal pressing rib 116 formed in the front surface case 105 isintegrally formed (refer to FIGS. 37 through 40).

Next, the structures of respective blocking portions 19, and how theblocking portions 19 are combined with the above-mentioned respectivediscriminating tabs 111 will be explained.

First of all, a blocking portion type I of the main body side terminal30 is applied to the video camera 1A (charge-complying-type 1A) in theabove-mentioned embodiments, and comprised of the overhang portion 17formed in the upper frame body 13 of the main body side terminal 30 andthe above-mentioned blocking projecting bar 18 formed to extend in theleft direction from the back end of the overhang portion 17 (refer toFIG. 37).

In such blocking portion type I, since the central portion of theoverhang portion 17 interferes with the discriminating rib 141 of the Dtype discriminating tab 111D, its loading is not permitted, though itsloading is permitted in the cases of the other L, S and H discriminatingtabs since the central portions of the eaves portions 17 thereof do notinterfere with the discriminating tabs 111.

Therefore, the dry cell pack 140 is not capable of being loaded on thecharge-complying-type video camera 1A to which the blocking portion typeI is applied, and consequently, it is possible to prevent the trouble inwhich the dry cell pack 140 is erroneously charged. On the other hand,the battery packs 100L, 100S, 100H to which the other typediscriminating tabs 111L, 111S, 111H are applied are capable of beingloaded on the battery loading portion 10 regardless of capacity thereofbeing high or low (refer to FIG. 37).

In the blocking portion type II, a cutaway 17 a is formed at the centralportion of the overhang portion 17, and as a result, since the overhangportion 17 does not interfere with the discriminating tab 141, itsloading is permitted, and at the same time, does not have any portionthat interferes with the other type discriminating tabs 111S, 111L,111H, loading of all the types of the discriminating tabs 111L, 111S,111H are consequently permitted (refer to FIG. 38).

Therefore, all of the low capacity battery pack 100L, the standardcapacity battery pack 100S, the high capacity battery pack 100H and thedry cell pack 140 are capable of being loaded on the video camera 1B ofthe charge-non-complying-type to which the blocking portion type II isapplied (refer to FIG. 38).

In the blocking portion type III, one end portion of the blockingprojecting bar 18 formed toward the bottom surface 15 (left direction)reaches the bottom surface 15 of the battery loading portion 10, andanother blocking projecting bar 18 is integrally formed from theabove-mentioned bottom surface 15 ahead of the blocking projecting bar18. The interval between the two blocking projecting bars 18 is formedto be approximately equal to the interval between the two terminalpositioning ribs 109, 109 that are formed to sandwich theabove-mentioned battery side terminal 120 from the front and backdirections (refer to FIG. 39).

In such blocking portion type III, since the central portion of theoverhang portion 17 interferes with the discriminating tab 141 of the Dtype discriminating tab 111D, its loading is not permitted, and in the Ltype discriminating tab 111L and the S type discriminating tab 111S,since small projecting bars 110, 110L extending in opposite directions(front and back direction) to each other from the left ends of theseterminal positioning ribs 109 interfere with the above-mentionedblocking projecting bars 18, 18, its loading is not permitted as well.And in the H type discriminating tab 111H, there is no portion tointerfere with the blocking portion type III, so that its loading istherefore permitted (refer to FIG. 39).

Therefore the low capacity battery pack 100, the standard capacitybattery pack 100S and the dry cell pack 140 are not capable of beingloaded on the high capacity-dedicated video light 150A to which theblocking portion type III is applied, and only the highcapacity-dedicated battery pack 100H is capable of being loaded on thehigh capacity-dedicated video light 150A (refer to FIG. 39).

In the blocking portion type IV, although the blocking projecting bar 18formed toward the bottom surface 15 (left direction) from the back endof the overhang portion 17 as in the above-mentioned blocking portiontype I does not reach the bottom surface 15 of the battery loadingportion 10, the small projecting portion 18 a is formed in the extendedregion thereof that contacts with the bottom surface 15 of the batteryloading portion 10, and another small projecting portion 18 a isintegrally formed from the above-mentioned bottom surface 15 ahead ofthe small projecting portion 18 a. Then the interval between the twosmall projecting portions 18 a, 18 a is formed to be approximately equalto the interval between the two terminal positioning ribs 109, 109 thatare formed to sandwich the above-mentioned battery side terminal 120from the front and back directions (refer to FIG. 40).

In such blocking portion type IV, since the central portion of theoverhang portion 17 interferes with the discriminating rib 141 of the Dtype discriminating tab 111D, its loading is not permitted, and in the Ltype discriminating 111L, since the small projecting bars 110L, 110Lthat extend in opposite directions (front and back direction) to eachother from the left ends of the terminal positioning ribs 109, 109interfere with the above-mentioned small projecting portions 18 a, 18 a,its loading is not permitted as well. Then, in the S type discriminatingtab 111S, since the small projecting bars 110, 110 that extend inopposite directions (front and back direction) to each other from theterminal positioning ribs 109, 109 formed at the position slightlydetached from the bottom surface 106 a of the battery pack 100 so thatthere is no portion to interfere with the blocking portion type IV, itsloading is, therefore, permitted. In addition, as for the H typediscriminating tab 111H, since there is no portion to interfere with theblocking portion type IV, its loading is, therefore, permitted as well(refer to FIG. 40).

Therefore, the low capacity battery pack 100L and the dry cell pack 140are not loaded on the non-low capacity video light 150B though thestandard capacity battery pack 100S and the high capacity battery pack100S are capable of being loaded thereon (refer to FIG. 40).

Meanwhile, although not shown in the figures, in the vicinity of thesmall projecting portion 18 a of the blocking portion type IV isdisposed a detection switch to detect the presence of the smallprojecting bar 110 of the S type discriminating tab 111S and to judgewhether it is the S type discriminating tab 111S or the L typediscriminating tab 111L.

Then the above-mentioned non-low capacity video light 150B is providedwith two electric bulbs, and when the high capacity battery pack 100H isloaded, the two electric bulbs light up while one electric bulb does sowhen the standard capacity battery pack 100S is loaded. In this manner,by respectively providing the discriminating tab 111 and the blockingportion 19 in the vicinity of the battery side terminal 120 and the mainbody side terminal 30, it is possible to judge whether or not itsloading is permitted before the battery side terminal 120 and the mainbody side terminal 30 are connected, with the result that connectingboth the terminals is surely avoided in the case of “NO”. Namely, evenin the case of erroneous loading, since the above-mentioneddiscriminating tab and the blocking portion are provided in the vicinityof both the terminals 120 and 30, the connection of both the terminals120 and 30 can be avoided, and therefore, contact between the terminalmember 122 and the terminal piece 31 can be avoided.

In addition, the forms of the above-mentioned discriminating tab 111 andthe blocking portion 19 and the positions thereof are illustrated asexamples. Without being restricted to the illustrations, thediscriminating tab 111 and the blocking portion 19 may be provided inthe vicinity of the battery side terminal 120 and the blocking portion19, and further, it should be noted that these forms and positions arenot restricted to the battery pack 100, the dry cell pack 140, the videocamera 1 (1A, 1B), the video light 150 and the battery charger 160, butthat various kinds thereof can be considered.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiments, the terminal case 121 ofthe battery side terminal 120 corresponds to ┌the mold member of thecomponent-to-be-loaded side terminal┘ described in claims, and the upperframe body 13 and the like of the main body side terminal 30 correspondto ┌the mold member of the main body side terminal┘ described in claims.Furthermore, as described above, the main body side terminal 30 may becomposed of another member instead of the above-mentioned frame body,and another such member may be molded as a mold member by inserting aterminal piece therein, and at the same time, a guide piece may beintegrally formed together with this. Besides, the battery side terminalmay make the battery case serve as the above-mentioned battery member,and a terminal member may be formed therein by insert-molding togetherwith a guide groove formed.

In addition, in the above-mentioned embodiments, there are provided twoguide pieces with three terminal pieces disposed therebetween. However,without being restricted to this, the present invention may provideadditional guide pieces between lined-up terminal pieces, when there aremany terminal pieces.

Further, the specific forms and structures of the respective portionsshown in the above-mentioned embodiments show merely an example ofembodying the present invention, so the technical scope of the presentinvention should not limitedly be construed by them.

As apparent from what have been described, the structures of theterminals of the present invention are ones characterized by aiming foran electric connection between a main body side apparatus and acomponent-to-be-loaded when the latter is loaded on the former, whereinthe main body side apparatus has a main body side terminal, thecomponent-to-be-loaded has a component-to-be-loaded side terminal forjoining with the above-mentioned main body side terminal, and a terminalpiece of the above-mentioned main body side apparatus is formed on amold member by insert-molding with at least one guide piece beingintegrally provided on the mold member, and further, a terminal memberof the above-mentioned component-to-be-loaded side terminal isinsert-molded on a mold member with a guide groove being formed on themold member to correspond to the above-mentioned guide piece, and byhaving the above-mentioned guide piece engage with the guide grooveformed on the component-to-be-loaded, positioning of the main body sideterminal and the component-to-be-loaded side terminal is achieved.

In addition, the present invention is a component-to-be-loaded having acomponent-to-be-loaded side terminal that aims for an electricconnection with a main body side terminal of a main body side apparatuswhen the component-to-be-loaded is loaded on the main body sideapparatus, characterized in that a terminal member of theabove-mentioned component-to-be-loaded side terminal is insert-molded ona mold member with a guide groove being formed on the mold member tocorrespond to a guide piece provided on the above-mentioned main bodyside apparatus, and by having the guide groove engage with the guidepiece of the above-mentioned main body side apparatus, positioning ofthe above-mentioned main body side terminal and thecomponent-to-be-loaded side terminal is achieved.

Therefore, in the present invention, since positioning of a main bodyside terminal and a component-to-be-loaded side terminal is achieved byengaging a terminal piece and/or terminal member insert-molded on a moldmember with a guide piece and a guide groove formed on the mold member,by enhancing the accuracy of molding between the terminal piece and theguide groove of both the terminals, the positional accuracy of theterminal piece and the terminal member of both the terminals can beimproved, so that when both the terminals are joined with each other,the state in which the terminal piece and the terminal member are joinedwith each other can be stably maintained.

In the present invention, in the direction in which a main body sideterminal and a component-to-be-loaded are joined with each other, sincethe above-mentioned guide piece is formed larger in size than a terminalpiece of the main body side terminal, the guide piece and the terminalpiece engage with each other prior to a terminal member and the terminalpiece coming into contact with each other, so that the terminal memberand the terminal piece begin to contact with each other when positioningof the terminals are completed, and consequently, unreasonable force isnot applied to the terminal member and the terminal piece, andtherefore, these terminals are not deformed. As a result, the state inwhich the terminal piece and the terminal member are joined with eachother can be stably maintained.

In the present invention, since the above-mentioned guide pieces areprovided in the vicinity of the terminal pieces, a colliding terminalpiece first collides with a guide piece, so that external force neveracts directly on the terminal piece, and therefore, the terminal pieceis not deformed. As a result, the state in which the terminal piece andthe terminal member are joined with each other can be stably maintained.

In the present invention, since the above-mentioned two guide pieces areprovided to sandwich the terminal pieces of the above-mentioned mainbody side terminal from the direction in which the terminal pieces arealigned, the guide pieces can be further protected from external forceacting thereon, so the terminal pieces are never deformed. As theresult, the state in which the terminal piece and the terminal memberare joined with each other can be stably maintained.

In the present invention, since a protection plate with slits beingformed respectively at the positions corresponding to respectiveterminal pieces is provided to cover the terminal pieces of theabove-mentioned main side terminal, and the above-mentioned protectionplate is shifted so that both the terminals are capable of being joinedwith each other at the time of the above-mentioned main body sideterminal and the component-to-be-loaded side terminal being joined witheach other, the terminal pieces are never exposed, with the result thatit is possible to prevent foreign materials from attaching to theterminal pieces and at the same time, to protect as well as tostrengthen the terminal pieces.

In addition, the structures of the terminals of the present inventionare the ones that aim for an electric connection between a main bodyside apparatus and a component-to-be-loaded, wherein a main body sideterminal of the main body side apparatus has flat plate-like contactportions while a component-to-be-loaded side terminal of thecomponent-to-be-loaded has two contact pieces opposed to each other, andfurther, the above-mentioned main body side terminal and thecomponent-to-be-loaded side terminal are capable of being joined witheach other from at least two directions as to the plane direction of theabove-mentioned contact portion, so that the above-mentioned two contactpieces sandwich the above-mentioned contact portion at the time of themain body side terminal and the component-to-be-loaded side terminalbeing joined with each other.

Further, a component-to-be-loaded of the present invention is one havinga component-to-be-loaded side terminal for joining with a main body sideterminal of a main body side apparatus having flat plate-like contactportions with the above-mentioned component-to-be-loaded side terminalhaving two contact pieces opposed to each other, and furthermore, theabove-mentioned main body side terminal and the component-to-be-loadedside terminal are capable of being joined with each other from at leasttwo directions as to the plane direction of the above-mentioned contactportion, so that the above-mentioned two contact pieces sandwich theabove-mentioned contact portion at the time of the main body sideterminal and the component-to-be-loaded side terminal being joined witheach other.

Therefore, in the present invention, since a flat plate-like contactportion is sandwiched by two contact pieces of a component-to-be-loadedside terminal, and the direction in which the component-to-be-loadedside terminal is inserted into and pulled out from a main body sideapparatus is made at least two directions, the direction in which thecomponent-to-be-loaded is loaded on the main body side apparatus can bemade different from the direction in which the terminals are joined witheach other. As the result, regardless of the direction in which theterminals are joined with each other, the degree of freedom in designingwith respect to the loading of the component-to-be-loaded on the mainbody side apparatus can be increased, and miniaturization of the mainbody side apparatus and/or component-to-be-loaded can be achieved.

In addition, since a flat plate-like contact portion of a main body sideterminal is intended to be sandwiched by two contact pieces of acomponent-to-be-loaded side terminal, regardless of the direction inwhich the terminals are joined with each other, the stable contact stateof the terminals can be ensured.

Further, in the present invention, since a main body side terminal isprovided at the inside corner portion, on which a component-to-be-loadedis loaded, of a concave portion of a main body side apparatus, and acomponent-to-be-loaded side terminal is provided at the outside cornerportion of a case body of the component-to-be-loaded, or at the positioncorresponding to the above-mentioned main body side terminal; and sincecontact portions of the above-mentioned main body side terminal are eachprojectingly provided in a way that the orientation thereof isapproximately right with respect to the plane constituting theabove-mentioned inside corner portion, and contact pieces of thecomponent-to-be-loaded side terminal are provided in a terminaldisposition groove that opens to the two planes constituting theabove-mentioned outside corner portion, positioning of the terminals canbe performed in two directions with the engagement of the inside andoutside corner portions, and in the remaining one direction by combiningthe terminals. As a result, positioning of the two terminals in threedirections becomes possible, and the direction in which thecomponent-to-be-loaded is loaded on the main body side apparatus can bemade the direction that is approximately perpendicular to the loadingsurface on which the loading portion of the main body side apparatus isformed. Consequently, it becomes unnecessary to provide a space only forloading the component-to-be-loaded on the main body side apparatus, andminiaturization of the main body side apparatus and/or thecomponent-to-be-loaded can be implemented.

In the present invention, since half-sphere-like contact convex portionsare formed at the portion where the above-mentioned two contact piecescontact with each other, and the above-mentioned contact portion is heldbetween these two contact convex portions, regardless of the directionin which these two terminals are joined with each other, the stablestate of contact can be ensured.

In the present invention, since the above-mentioned two contact convexportions are made to come into zero contact with each other, when thecontact piece comes in contact with the contact portion, unreasonableforce never acts on the both, so the contact portion and the contactpiece are never deformed, with the result that the stable state ofcontact can be ensured.

In the present invention, since only the above-mentioned contact convexportions can be seen from a terminal disposition groove of acomponent-to-be-loaded side terminal, when a flat plate-like contactportion is inserted in the terminal disposition groove, only the contactbetween the contact convex portions and the contact portion can beobtained, and regardless of any of the directions in which the terminalsare combined with each other, the spring characteristic of the contactpiece with respect to the contact portion can be made the same, so thecontact stability of both the terminals can be ensured.

In the present invention, since the above-mentioned contact piece iscomposed of phosphor bronze of 0.2 mm in thickness, and a gilded layerof 0.5 μm or more is applied at least to the above-mentioned contactconvex portion, even when the number of insertions and pulling-out ofboth the terminals amounts to comparatively many, gilding does not wearsoff although the gilding is consumed in the normal state of use.Consequently, contact stability of the terminals subjected tocomparatively many times of insertions and pulling-out can be ensured.

In the present invention, in the state in which a contact portion isinserted from approximately the middle (standard position) of a terminaldisposition groove, since contact pressure of the above-mentionedcontact convex portion against the contact portion is made approximately1N (Newton), even when gilded part of the contact convex portion becomesworn off due to an excessive number of times of insertions andpulling-out, it is possible to maintain a contact resistance value belowthe standard value for the base sheet layer. Consequently, contactstability between the terminals can be ensured.

1. A battery device for being loaded on an electronic apparatus,comprising: two surface cases assembled to form a housing for at leastone battery cell therein; a plurality of terminal members; a pluralityof terminal grooves in which said plurality of terminal members aredisposed; a terminal case in which said plurality of terminal groovesare disposed; one of said two surface cases having a recess that opensto two surfaces of said one surface case; said terminal case being setin said recess of said one surface case and in contact with the othersurface case; said terminal grooves open to said two surfaces of saidone surface case; and a concave portion provided proximate said terminalgrooves for discriminating battery types.
 2. The battery device of claim1, further comprising first and second guide grooves respectivelyprovided at opposite ends of said plurality of terminal grooves andopened to said two surfaces of said one surface case.
 3. The batterydevice of 1, further comprising first and second guide groovesrespectively provided at opposite ends of said plurality of terminalgrooves and opened to said two surfaces of said one surface case, andwherein said concave portion is provided adjacent each of said first andsecond guide grooves.
 4. The battery device of claim 3, wherein saidconcave portion is opened to at least one of said two surface cases. 5.The battery device of claim 3, further comprising a discriminating ribprovided within said concave portion to identify a battery type.
 6. Thebattery device of claim 3, wherein said concave portion, said guidegrooves and said terminal grooves exhibit widths, and the width of saidconcave portion is larger than the widths of said guide grooves and saidterminal grooves.
 7. The battery device of claim 6, wherein the width ofsaid concave portion is in a direction in which said plurality ofterminal members are aligned.
 8. The battery device according to claim3, wherein said first and second guide grooves and said plurality ofterminal grooves are formed on said terminal case, said terminal caseabutting said one surface case; and wherein said concave portion isprovided on said one surface case spaced from the abutment between saidone surface case and said terminal case.
 9. The battery device of claim3, wherein a space is formed between a terminal groove and an adjacentguide groove, said space being smaller than the space between adjacentterminal grooves.
 10. The battery device of claim 9, wherein saidplurality of terminal members are insert-molded on a terminal case thatabuts said one surface case.
 11. The battery device of claim 3, whereinsaid guide grooves are larger in size than said plurality of terminalgrooves.
 12. The battery device of claim 3, wherein two opposing contactpieces are disposed in each of said plurality of terminal grooves. 13.The battery device of claim 12, wherein each contact piece is providedwith a hemispherical contact convex portion.
 14. The battery device ofclaim 13, wherein two contact convex portions are in contact with eachother when pressure is not applied thereto.
 15. The battery device ofclaim 13, wherein substantially only said contact convex portions areviewable from the terminal groove.